Coast to Coast confirms closure of Ipswich restaurant

The Coast to Coast restaurant in the Buttermarket Centre, Ipswich, is closing permanently. Picture: GOOGLE MAPS (Image: GOOGLE MAPS)

The restaurant chain – which specialises in American foods and opened the Ipswich branch in 2016 – confirmed the permanent closure, stating “pressures have been exacerbated by Covid-19 and the lockdown”.

In an email seen by this newspaper, staff were told the Ipswich restaurant was one of the 130 to be closed by The Restaurant Group (TRG).

The email sent by TRG, said they have had to “take a realistic judgement as to the likely scale of the business as we eventually start to reopen”.

The chain has been struggling for a long time and coronavirus has added yet more pressure to the restaurant sector following months of lost trade.

A spokesman at Coast to Coast, who confirmed the Ipswich closure, said: “The casual dining sector has faced enormous, well documented pressures which have been exacerbated by Covid-19 and the lockdown.

“Unfortunately, we have had to take difficult but necessary decisions to ensure a sustainable future for our business. We have been in close contact with affected colleagues throughout this process and we are doing all we can to support them during this time.”

According to a member of staff at the Ipswich site, who asked to remain anonymous, 30 employees have been made redundant as a result of the permanent closure.

Earlier in the year TRG - which owns Coast to Coast, Frankie Benny’s, Chiquito’s and Wagamama - announced it would be closing a number of sites across the UK.

Yesterday, it was revealed that two Frankie & Benny’s in Suffolk will also not reopen following the coronavirus lockdown – including the Cardinal Park restaurant in Ipswich and one in Haverhill.

MORE: Ipswich Frankie & Benny’s among two Suffolk sites closing